In the backpack were all the crystal cores they had obtained that day, several hundred of them. Ji Shiyou handed the backpack directly to Ba Jiu.
He had a daring idea. Since that high-level zombie could absorb the crystal cores of its own kind to advance in battle, why couldn't Ba Jiu?
This was a gamble. If they won, Ba Jiu would advance, and they would survive. If they lost, they would all die together.
The most crucial thing now was to buy Ba Jiu time to absorb the crystal cores.
Therefore, after handing the backpack to Ba Jiu, Ji Shiyou resolutely walked towards the transformed zombie.
Wen Qingtian and the other two immediately understood what Ji Shiyou was going to do and also walked to his side.
The four of them together faced the high-level zombie, which was like an iron giant.
The four of them aimed to buy time, not to die. Thus, their teamwork was displayed at this moment.
Wen Qingtian's wind blades, Tian Chang's vines, and Bu Zhi's water arrows were responsible for harassment from a distance, while Ji Shiyou engaged in close-quarters combat.
Whenever Ji Shiyou was about to be attacked, the other three would draw the zombie's attention.
Under such coordination, they actually managed to hold back the zombie's advance for five minutes.
The zombie lost its patience, let out a low growl, first sent Ji Shiyou and Wen Qingtian flying, and then grabbed the vines sent by Tian Chang.
It wanted to pull her directly to its side. As long as it pulled this person over, it could finish her with one punch, this human who kept harassing it.
Seeing Tian Chang being pulled towards the zombie, Bu Zhi immediately hugged Tian Chang. Ji Shiyou, disregarding his injuries, grabbed the vines, and the three of them began a tug-of-war with the zombie.
The metallic-attribute zombie after transformation was incredibly strong. The combined strength of the three of them was no match for it.
Little by little, they were pulled closer to the zombie, nearing its attack range.
Just then, several wind blades flew past, cutting the vines.
It was Wen Qingtian, who had been sent flying. Seeing the three in danger, he intervened.
The vines were instantly severed, and the immense inertia sent the three of them crashing to the ground. The zombie, however, remained unmoving.
Unfazed, it walked towards them and raised the giant hammer in its hand.
Just as Ji Shiyou and the others thought they were doomed, the once ferocious zombie suddenly collapsed.
Its body contorted and it began to roll on the ground, as if in extreme pain.
"It's done!"
Seeing Ba Jiu standing in front of them, Ji Shiyou shouted in surprise and hugged the other three.
Ba Jiu looked at the rolling zombie on the ground with disdain in his eyes and a sneer on his lips.
He had advanced to level eight. Level eight was a watershed for high-level zombies.
Even with enough crystal cores, one could not advance casually; it required talent. Only by reaching level eight was it possible to become a zombie king.
As he advanced, Ba Jiu's mental power also grew exponentially. It was with his mental power just now that he had
hit the zombie and stopped it from harming Wen Qingtian and the others.
With a wave of his small hand, purple flames engulfed the zombie. Ba Jiu's flames had originally been normal in color and posed no threat to zombies.
But now, the purple flames made the zombie unable to last even a minute before turning into ashes, leaving behind only a golden crystal core glowing in the ashes.
Ba Jiu picked up the crystal core and put it into Bu Zhi's backpack, then handed the backpack back to Bu Zhi, not keeping it for himself.
This was the rule set by Mingyue. The crystal cores of zombies killed while out would be entrusted to Bu Zhi for safekeeping and distributed by her upon their return.
Bu Zhi hugged the backpack tightly, her face full of nervousness. This was the crystal core of a level seven zombie, very precious, and she couldn't afford to lose it.
Before everyone could recover from the joy of obtaining the level seven crystal core, Ba Jiu's actions surprised them again.
In the logistics base, all the zombies were marching in neat formations towards the entrance, then paired up, twisting each other's necks.
The corpses of zombies piled up like mountains at the main entrance, leaving Ji Shiyou and the other three dumbfounded, looking at Ba Jiu in shock.
"Mental control. I used everyone's crystal cores. This is compensation. Collect them quickly."
After advancing, Ba Jiu's speech had become much smoother. He pointed at the pile of zombie heads and explained to them.
The crystal cores in Bu Zhi's backpack belonged to everyone, and his sister had not yet distributed them. Therefore, Ba Jiu used his mental power to control all the zombies in the logistics base, making them kill each other to obtain crystal cores.
Thus, the scene that Mingyue saw upon her return unfolded: several people guarding a small mountain of crystal cores and grinning foolishly.
However, most of the crystal cores in this pile were from ordinary zombies, none above level one. Perhaps the crystal cores of higher-level zombies had been consumed by the dead high-level zombies, which was why their level was so high.
With Ba Jiu in the car, their journey was smooth and unimpeded. They encountered no zombie interference and returned to the villa.
The group quickly washed up. After a day of fighting zombies, their clothes were beyond repair.
Fortunately, Mingyue had a mountain of clothes collected in her space. Dirty clothes could be discarded without washing.
Water had already been cut off. Mingyue busied herself by releasing river water from her space for everyone to bathe. It was then that she remembered there was someone else in her space.
With a thought, the severely injured man appeared in the living room.
Mingyue went over to check. Good, he was still alive, just unconscious.
"Sister Mingyue, who is he? He looks like a soldier."
Tian Chang, who had finished washing up and returned to the living room, saw a person on the floor and asked curiously.
"Mingyue, could he be the one guarding the weapons? Why did you bring him back? I'll throw him out."
Ji Shiyou saw the person on the floor wearing a military uniform and said in confusion.
He thought Mingyue had accidentally collected him when she was collecting weapons, so he volunteered to solve this troublesome issue.
"I brought him back intentionally. His comrades were all killed by Qingying, and he was the only one left. If I hadn't brought him back, he would have died."
Mingyue said helplessly. She didn't know how to accommodate this person now. It was an impulsive decision at the time to put him into her space.
In fact, she wasn't an emotional person, but this man was severely injured and had kindly warned her at the time.
It had touched her slightly, and she ended up putting him into her space and bringing him back.
"That woman, her name is Qingying?"
As they were speaking, a voice came from the floor. Unexpectedly, despite his severe injuries, the man had woken up.
"Yes, her name is Qingying. She had a conflict with us, and all your people were killed by her."
Mingyue replied while checking the man's injuries. To her surprise, without any treatment, the man's injuries were healing.
"Did you awaken an ability?" Mingyue asked.
"They're all dead? Ability, what is that?"
The man had a baby face, but wearing a military uniform, he looked very solemn.
He looked about the same age as Bu Zhi, with a dark complexion and thick eyebrows and big eyes.
Upon hearing that his comrades were all killed by Qingying, his eyes were filled with grief and rage. He then heard Mingyue ask if he was an ability user, and his face was filled with confusion.